Hits in the headlines #77
I was recently booking a flight and among the never-ending list of add-ons, there was an option to offset the carbon impact. I would like to think that I care a lot about my carbon footprint and doing good for the environment, but I immediately thought, “why do I have to pay for it?”. Surely, the company must be responsible, right? Well, I guess the option is an extra cost, so giving this as a choice to customers is better than just increasing prices. Though I initially thought I would pay the extra, I wanted to do some research into the scheme with this particular airline. As it turns out, the scheme was questionable, at best. The airline has been warned by environmental groups and agencies that their carbon offset programmes are “misleading” customers. Though the offset with this airline might not be the best choice, I will still use a carbon offset programme when I fly, even if it would be best to avoid flying altogether. Yet, I am still frustrated that what at first seems like a positive environmental choice, may actually be a kind-of scam that isn’t having the full impact that it should. So, can we really trust any of these services? And, should you be offsetting your carbon impact already?
Secondly, there is a recent story about the wave of cheating that is hitting education institutions. As AI tools not only become better, but more widely used, there is a growing number of students using these to improve their grades, where possible. It makes a lot of sense, really. The pressure on students goes beyond “wanting to do well”: Expectations from family; scholarship and bursary schemes; and, an ever changing job market that can seem impossible to enter in 2024. Students, more so than ever, are finding that it is more important to do well, and that it is seemingly more easy to cheat than ever before. So, what is the catch? For a long time, teachers (myself included) felt that they were able to detect when students have used AI to cheat, and perhaps they still can. Though when papers are randomised and there are anonymising measures to make sure that grades are fairly assigned, it can be impossible to know who wrote which paper. In a recent study, papers written by AI were going undetected in 94% of cases. To make this worse, in 84% of these cases, the AI generated papers scored higher than ones that were written by humans. Some people are so concerned, that they believe the future of higher education will need to change, forever, in order to provide fair grades and evaluation of students. So what will it look like in the future? Is AI forever a part of the exam process now? And, could this be the end of higher education as we know it?
Finally, the video this week is about forensic linguistics. While you might know what those words mean individually, the meaning of the two combined might be a little less clear. What does forensic linguistics look like? Well, it can take a lot of forms, but the key part is that linguistics is used in the process of solving a crime. And, this happens far more often than you may realise. Some form of linguistic analysis is performed when there are personal exchanges in the evidence, whether they are written, or audio recordings. The results of these analyses may even shock you. Some high-profile crimes have been investigated through this lens and it has resulted in further investigation and arrests. Many of these skills are things that you can do, and might even already be doing! While some of the methods are questionable in their theory, there are some real uses of linguistics that can inspire you to learn a little more. So, hear the story of how one major criminal was caught using forensic linguistics, and how it might be more relevant to your life than you think.
Why not use this as a chance to learn some new language?
Try to note some new language that you see or hear in the articles or video and bring it to the class.
Remember, I always encourage you to send in your interesting articles, videos, or podcasts. You can message me directly, or email me here.
Have a great week.
See you in class!